In recent years, mobile terminals such as cellular phones and smart phones, calculators, information devices such as ticket vending machines, industrial devices (factory automation equipment), and the like are increasingly provided with an input device including a touch panel configured by a display unit and a touch sensor disposed on the display unit, as an input device such as an operation unit for detecting an input operation by the operator, a switch and the like.
In such an input device, a layout of an operation screen displayed on the touch panel may be varied at will. Therefore, according to an input operation by the operator, the input device is capable of improving convenience for the operator, by, for example, displaying only necessary keys as occasion requires.
There are known a variety of types of the touch sensors, such as a resistive film type, a capacitive type, an optical type, and the like. However, any types of the touch sensors are configured to detect a contact made to the touch sensor by a finger or a stylus pen. Accordingly, in the input device that performs predetermined processing, such as displaying a character, in response to detection of the contact made to the touch sensor, the processing such as displaying a character is initiated even when the operator lightly touches the touch sensor.
However, in the above input device, a situation arises in which, even when the operator touches the touch sensor lightly by mistake without any intension to display the character, for example, the processing of displaying the character is initiated upon detection of the contact made to the touch sensor. When the processing is initiated by the unintentional operation by the operator as in the above situation, undesired processing for the operator is carried out.
In view of the above, there has been proposed the input device that is provided with a pressure detection unit configured to detect pressure applied to the touch panel and that carries out predetermined processing upon detection of pressure satisfying a predetermined standard by identifying the detection as the operation having been made according to the intention of the operator. (For example, refer to Patent Literature 1.)